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To dinner, at Rowley Leigh's new venture in Bayswater, which seems to have been so widely reviewed recently that I wonder if anywhere else has opened in the past few weeks - leaving no other options for the food journo's to get their teeth into.
I have mixed feelings about Rowley Leigh. I've always liked Kensington Place - where he made his name and ruled the roost for quite a few years: an unpretentious menu (very good quality, elbows-out eating, essentially), and
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And so.....Le Café Anglais. In appearance, it resembles the first-class restaurant on a luxury liner, large and sleek, with much chrome and white nappery and uniformed staff in evidence. Foolishly taking a seat on the banquette side of the table, though, my heart sank along with my centre of gravity as I realised they'd got the heights of the banquettes wrong, and I felt as though I were ten years old once more, with the need for a large cushion and a couple of telephone directories in order to be the right height to have my hair cut! An unnerving sensation, after all these years.....
The menu didn't make me feel a lot happier - although the Kir that accompanied it was perfectly made, with not too much Cassis, as is so often the case.
In fact, I struggled with the menu. As we waited for the rest of the group to arrive, I tried in vain to find anything amongst the First Course selection that seemed at all interesting: three different kinds of soup didn't do it for me, and nor did the offer of a selection of omelettes. A.A. Gill had warned everybody off the Pike Boudin; Parma Ham with Quince Jelly at twelve quid a po
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Second Course dishes went back to being rather dull, though. I know the place positions itself as a
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The
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It didn't occur to anybody to think about a dessert, although we happily ploughed into another bottle of Morellino to round off the evening - and only realised as we finished it that the room had emptied around us, and the staff were clearly anxious to go home. Which I think is probably a fair indication that we'd had a good time....
All-told, I think I'd recommend the place - although with the caveat that you need to work at the menu with care. It would be all too easy to have a very dull and extremely over-priced meal at Le Café Anglais, if you weren't concentrating. Oh, and it might be a good idea to take along with you a couple of old telephone directories, as well, if you don't want to sit with your chin resting on the tablecloth!
Tonight's Dinner:
Garlic Prawns.
Boeuf Stroganoff, with Green Beans
Andalusian Tarts.
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